No fewer than four levels of security checkpoints were mounted at Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium, the Secretariat, Alausa, venue for the Swearing-in ceremony of Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s Commissioners and Special Advisers.

The State House Correspondents who got to the venue at 9.35 a.m. struggled a lot with the security agents at various checkpoints before they were allowed in after about 30 minutes.

Traditional dancers in their attires were also dancing to thrill the people at the event.

On ground were the Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Folashade Jaji, the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Justice Kazeem Alogba, traditional rulers and chiefs and many other government functionaries.

The members of the Lagos State House of Assembly, led by Mr Rotimi Abiru, the Chief Whip of the House, were also on ground for the ceremony.

Commissioner-designates, special adviser-designates and members of their families were already seated as at 10 a.m.

The event began 10.28 a.m., with the arrival of Gov. Sanwo-Olu.

The hall and canopies were filled with visitors who came to witness the ceremony.

NAN reports that the Lagos State House of Assembly had on Monday confirmed 35 out of 38 nominees by the governor for appointment into the state executive council.

“Provision of decent housing for Lagosians is an integral part of the transformation agenda of the present administration. Housing being a critical need of humans forms the bedrock of other developmental efforts, hence the great attention given to it by the present administration.

The commissioner said the government was upgrading skills of 1,000 artisans in the building sector to improve their efficiency and income generation capacity.

Akinderu-Fatai emphasised that the state government’s housing policy focused more on first time home owners who were residents and could be captured under suitable mortgage systems or had capacity to make outright purchases.

“Within the period under review, a total of 1,332 Lagosians benefited from the Rent-to-Own Scheme. With an initial payment of five per cent of the homes and monthly payments spread over 10 years, more Lagosians can become homeowners without experiencing serious financial hardship,” he said.

He added that the state would pursue various programmes to make social housing accessible to the less privileged and vulnerable in the state.

She said various stakeholder engagements were held and an online portal www.lasrera.lagosstate.gov.ng was launched for the registration of practitioners in the property market and real estate business.

“The seamless and robust platform has been put in place to gather data of genuine stakeholders in the industry for the purpose of planning and promoting ease of business.

“More importantly, it was also a way of addressing the issue of sharp practices in the sub sector in which many innocent citizens in search of accommodation, purchase and sale of properties have been criminally defrauded by fake/dubious practitioners,” she said.

Benson-Awoyinka said series of interactive sessions were carried out with various government agencies and leadership of local governments for proper regulation and actualisation of the vision of the agency.

”We bless the name of the Lord for his great favour and mercy over your life in the past years. God is truly worthy of praise.

”As we celebrate with you and your family and friends as you attain this milestone, we pray that as your days are, so shall your strength, wisdom and favour with God be, in Jesus name,” Osinbajo prayed.

Also, over 500 houses and apartments in various parts of the state and construction of classroom blocks in both primary and secondary schools in various local government areas and local council development areas of the state.

Sanwo-Olu said that the cardinal part of his ‘Greater Lagos’ vision was infrastructure development and his government had worked assiduously to achieve the numerous of infrastructure inaugurated.

”If Lagos is to sustain its Centre of Excellence status in the country, vital infrastructure must be carefully built across all sectors.

”Universally, infrastructure development is critical to achieving human capital development. The economic impact that infrastructure improvement has on nation-building cannot be over-emphasised.

”Without doubt, the growth of any country’s economy hugely depends on the status of its infrastructure. The dearth of needed infrastructure in a given society places serious limitation on human capital development.

”It is in view of its crucial role to achieving rapid economic growth that advanced nations of the world commit huge investment to infrastructural development.

”Essentially, the prosperity of a nation depends on the state of its infrastructure

“From the ancient Roman Empire to the super economic powers of the 21st century, it has been clearly demonstrated that no nation can accomplish true greatness without evolving pragmatic strategies for long-term infrastructural development.

”Therefore, the virtual commissioning of some vital projects on the occasion of the 1st year of our administration clearly amplifies our resolve to build first-class infrastructure across the state,” he said.

The governor urged Lagos residents to take proper ownership of the projects in their respective communities, as the projects were collective heritage.

According to him, in spite of the COVID-19pandemic and its attendant economic challenges, the government will not stop work on all road projects across the state.

Similarly, Sanwo-Olu also unveiled two major publications, ‘Towards a Greater Lagos’ and ‘Testimonies: Indisputable Proofs of Dividends of Democracy’, which had been specially produced to highlight the major strides of the administration in the last one year.

He said that the two anniversary publications were veritable sources of information about the policies, programmes and projects of the administration in the past one year.

The governor honoured leaders of various medical teams deployed to isolation facilities across the state, presenting them with plaques in appreciation of their sacrifices in the battle against the pandemic.

The 10health workers who received the plaques represented over 800 personnel deployed by the state to the frontline in the battle against COVID-19.

Sanwo-Olu described the health personnel as ”a dedicated team of professionals”, whose commitment and selflessness, helped the government to properly manage the healthcare sector in a critical period.

”The current pandemic ravaging cities and communities all over the world is something we have not seen in the last 100 years.

”As the epicentre of the outbreak in the country, Lagos has taken charge and offered the leadership required in the response to stop the virus.

”As a demonstration of our commitment to winning the battle, we felt the least we can do on the occasion of our first anniversary is to select representatives of the frontline health workers for appreciation.

‘The selected personnel are not the only persons deserving of the honour, but this is a testimony to our resolve to show appreciation to all the frontline workers.

”We have not come out of the pandemic or reached the peak, but we certainly cannot wait until the crisis is over before we start acknowledging the sacrifices of the committed people.

‘Each team of medical personnel deployed has played their roles well and we will not forget your sacrifices. On behalf of the people and government, I thank all frontline workers for their sacrifices,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu said the period of health emergency had given the state an opportunity to appraise its emergency response mechanism and the need to overhaul the public health infrastructure.

He said that his administration would not leave anything to chance to prepare the state for future health emergencies, as lessons learnt would lead to changes in the handling of infectious diseases to prevent lapses in future responses.

”It is not only aboutCOVID-19, but about the entire health infrastructure. We have taken lessons from the response toward containing the virus and we are taking the lessons beyond the pandemic.

”As a government, we will not leave anything to chance; we will continue to raise the bar.

”In the revision of the state’s 2020 Budget, it is only health sector that has seen growth in their numbers, both in capital and recurrent expenditures.

”We believe the sector needs all critical support around improving the skills of personnel and facilities, providing infrastructure and ensuring technology is playing lead role in managing health crisis.

”We have dedicated teams of medical personnel and I’m convinced we will survive this pandemic,” the governor said.

He re-emphasised the need for residents to keep to public health guidelines issued by the state government, adding that the use of face masks in public places and keeping social distancing remained compulsory in the state.

Presenting the health workers for the honour, Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, said the team leaders had displayed uncommon passion and commitment in discharging their duties in the period of public health crisis.

Sanwo-Olu, who inaugurated two different estates, said his government was positioned to bring about even development across the state.

He said that the project was a manifestation of his administration’s much- publicized need for public-private partnership, which would be encouraged in all sectors of governance to bring rapid growth and mutual benefits to all parties.

“We need to continue to genuinely think through affordable housing, and that is our commitment for our people, because it’s not everybody that will have the ability to pay for housing estates such as this.

“Therefore, we must give them opportunities for installmental payment, so as to make it affordable and accessible for them.

“I inherited this amongst several other projects and the critical challenge we had to contend with was lack of funds.

“To surmount this challenge, we had to look towards the private sector and adopted the public-private partnership (PPP) model. It was there that we were able to mobilize the needed funds and put life back to the construction site.

“The Lekki Apartment is thus another manifestation of the possibilities attainable when the public and private sectors come together to pursue a mutually beneficial goal.

“This cooperation remains a veritable means of meeting the shortfall in the supply of public utilities and social infrastructure”, he said.

The governor advised the allottees of the estate to put the facilities to proper use and conform to laid down rules for appreciation of value.

Sanwo-Olu congratulated the allottees, while commending the Ministry of Housing, Lagos State Development Property Corporation and the private developers for the success in one year of his administration.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Housing, Mr Moruf Akinderu-Fatai, praised the foresight and confidence of the governor on the success of the project to prove his commitment to providing affordable houses for Lagos residents.

Akinderu-Fatai said the project which started six years ago experienced some delays, but got a boost from Sanwo-Olu’s administration.

“When Mr Sanwo-Olu resumed as MD/ CEO of LSDPC in 2016, he immediately set about putting into motion the financial engineering and design modification required to complete this estate.

“Today’s event is actually to the credit of the Governor who ensured that all the hurdles to the completion were surmounted,’’ he said.

NAN reports that the estates, Courtland Luxury Villas and Ikate Elegushi Lekki Apartments, provide a total of 264 units of flats.

They consist of one bedroom to four bedrooms for upper and middle-income earners working around Lekki and Victoria Island of Lagos.

Mr Dipo Olorunrinu, a former member of the Lagos State House of Assembly, on Thursday commended Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his first year anniversary achievements as Governor of the state.

Olorunrinu, who represented Amuwo-Odofin Constituency I in the Eight Lagos Assembly, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that Sanwo-Olu had been setting pace for innovative leadership.

The lawmaker, who moved from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) few days to the expiration of his tenure, commended Sanwo-Olu’s insistence on completion of projects started by his predecessor.

Residents of Agboyi-Ketu, a Lagos suburb, on Thursday appealed to Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu to address scarcity of water affecting the community.

The residents, under the aegis of Joint Action for Good Governance, a civil society organisation (CSO), made the plea on Thursday in Lagos, as the governor commenced activities marking his first year in office.

Its National Vice President, Mr Abdulwaheed Odunuga, in a statement, described the situation in the community as an irony.

“Currently, none of the pumps is effective from our investigations. Water is not just an essential need for all human and animals, but also a necessity as a means of survival against the COVID-19pandemic.

“The state government is doing everything possible to flatten the curve of the pandemic.

“But the current non-supply of water to the residents is a leaky bucket strategy of fighting the anti-human virus.

“All efforts to get the resolution plans for the non-supply of the essential resource has only earned the common chorus ‘we are working on it’ from the staff of the corporation.

“The worst we had under the eight years of former Gov. Babatunde Fashola’s administration was 2/3 days of non-supply of water,” he said.

Odunuga advised the governor to also prioritise water supply as he celebrates his first year anniversary in office, saying this become imperative during this trying time of the global pandemic.

“I appeal to all relevant Lagos State Authorities to immediately restore water supply to all affected areas.

He said that the demise of Bakare was a rude shock to his family, friends, colleagues and associates, but should be accepted as the will of God.

”We should be consoled by the modest achievements of the late editor. Death is inevitable, as we all will die.

”Our goal in life is not to live forever, but to create something that will outlive us, bearing in mind that it is not the length of life that matters but the depth.

”Waheed lived an exemplary life. He was a devout Muslim, a dutiful husband and a good father.

”Above all, he touched millions of lives through his chosen profession as a journalist, who rose to the position of Saturday Editor of a national newspaper,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu also consoled with the Lagos State chapter and the national body of the Nigeria Union of Journalists as well as the Nigeria Guild of Editors.

”No doubt, the Nigeria Union of Journalists both at the state and the national levels, as well as the Nigeria Guild of Editors will by now be mourning the loss of an illustrious member. I pray that God will comfort you.

”May God comfort his immediate family, friends and associates. May God grant them the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable loss.

”May He grant the soul of Waheed al-Jannah firdaus. Amen,” the governor said.